Dan Hardy faced a wide-open net. He shot the ball with noticeable force, but it cruised over the top of the goal post at the 3:44 mark of the second quarter in the Syracuse-Hofstra scrimmage Thursday.

Hardy failed to capitalize on a great opportunity and his poor shooting created a turnover.

The poor shooting plagued most of Syracuse’s offense in the scrimmages, an area in which Syracuse men’s lacrosse head coach John Desko wants to see improvement. Not too much should be read into Syracuse’s 13-6 victories over Hofstra and Le Moyne Thursday, but Desko wants improvement.

The Orange will have its final preseason opportunity to tweak its rusty skills this Saturday when Harvard travels to the Carrier Dome at noon. The scrimmage marks Syracuse’s third preseason matchup and its last before hosting Providence Feb. 15 in the season opener.

‘I think Harvard will tell us a lot more about ourselves,’ Desko said. ‘Some of the other attackmen got stuffed a couple of times and didn’t shoot well (during Thursday’s scrimmages). …It’s game situations we need.’

Syracuse created many offensive opportunities for itself Thursday, out-shooting Hofstra in every quarter, but the ball could not find the back of the net in many instances. Shots that did not result in goals were drastically off target throughout the game.

In the third quarter against Hofstra, Hardy passed the ball to Kenny Nims. Nims attempted a shot that appeared to go in the goal but narrowly missed.

Syracuse’s failure to score resulted from an Orange mishap.

‘We just have to take care of the ball,’ Nims said. ‘We may not be playing real sharp, but we are playing alright, and we are happy with the intensity.’

After the attack’s mishaps in the first quarter of the Hofstra game, Desko rotated his son Tim Desko in at attack. A redshirt freshman, Tim Desko emerged as the lone highlight from the Orange’s offense with seven goals and two assists in the games.

‘Tim got in, and he shot better than most of the other guys,’ John Desko said. ‘He dodged for the ball which was really good.’

Desko was quick to point out his offense needs to work in is its spacing and execution.

‘There were a lot of times when we got out there and guys did what they felt like doing,’ John Desko said. ‘When you get into a big game you have to rely on execution of the offense. You want people to go out and make plays on their own, but you need to get into the offense, get settled and have everyone doing what they have to be doing out there.’

Keogh disappoints

Stephen Keogh did not live up to the hype he created for himself his freshman year during the scrimmages on Thursday. Keogh shot poorly and failed to make good decisions on the field, resulting in his eventual replacement.

Keogh registered 20 goals for the Orange in the 2008 season, but only two in Syracuse’s doubleheader.

‘He started in all the scrimmages but I was actually disappointed with how he finished the ball today,’ Desko said. ‘He had a bunch of one-on-ones and he just didn’t get it done.’

In 2008, Keogh played in all 18 games and led Syracuse’s freshman class with 22 points. Keogh looked to be the most promising of the class, but fell short Thursday. Keogh did find the back of the net twice, once in the third period of the Le Moyne game Thursday, when a defender smashed him into the turf after he registered the goal. Both scores came from man-up goals.

After the game, Desko did not shy away from saying Keogh needs to step up.

‘He did a little better as time went on,’ Desko said. ‘We talked to him about the shooting and how we’re showing our shots with our body and we got better as the game went on, but we’ll improve, we’ll improve.’

mkgalant@syr.edu

Published on February 2, 2009 at 12:00 pm